Meet WPO, the New SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) or WPO (web presence optimization) – which term better describes the optimization of a website or Internet marketing efforts? With changes and advancements sweeping the world of search engines and online marketing, the old abbreviations and their explanations seem to have run out of steam or lost their scope. Is online marketing all about optimizing for the search result pages? Do search engine rankings solely determine website earnings? Is search engine optimization all that’s required for better online performance and to achieve intended goals?

Say ‘Hello’ to Web Presence Optimization

These questions are being widely debated in the Internet world, prompting even newer questions about this art called SEO and raising doubts about the relevance of the acronym. Web presence optimization (WPO), a relatively new coinage, has been suggested to represent – an approach involving optimization of the entire web presence for the purpose of organic search. This would include optimizing the website, articles, blogs, and press releases as well as social media channels. In WPO, strategies and tactics continue to be used while social media optimization and content marketing are given roles of greater importance.

What People Think of SEO

While web presence optimization seems to be one comprehensive definition, SEO seems to have varying ones.

For some, SEO refers to identifying non-branded keywords which can help drive organic search traffic and facilitate conversions based on which content is optimized and published.

For others, it refers to enhancing a brand’s web presence and visibility in organic search. Still others would consider SEO to be the result of employing content marketing by super converting keywords which you expect your target audience will be searching on.

SEO could also be considered as the process of users realizing the web presence and content produced on behalf of a brand through social media and search, and the ability of the content creator to gauge the impact of the content created in terms of the kind and number of users who went through it.

SEO is Vibrant, Not Dead

Thanks to these various, but more or less similar, impressions of search engine optimization in the minds of SEO professionals and business owners, it is hardly surprising that SEO kind of morphed into WPO or web presence optimization. This is quite a natural course for something that is lively and being used extensively by people. It is known in linguistics that only dead languages remain intact in their vocabulary and grammar rules all through. Vibrant languages that are actively used for communication by the masses keep transforming through the years and centuries to become totally different from the way they once were. Take a look at the English of the early 20th century, that of Shakespeare in the 16th century and that of Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century – see what we mean?

The impression that SEO is getting transformed into WPO is a sign that SEO has been, and is continuing to be, active and a very important tool for website owners, businesses and marketers. It has only evolved with the times, but it really has not moved away to make way for something else.

About Rajeev Rajagopal

Rajeev Rajagopal is the Vice President of Managed Outsource Solutions, a leading BPO company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Prior to joining MOS, he worked as a physical therapist. Having worked in several rehabilitation clinics, Rajeev has learned the importance of good medical records for medical billing and liability issues and the importance of the good back and front office support. He has extensive knowledge in SEO, medical billing and coding, and medical transcription. He has worked with a number of large organizations to effectively manage and provide outsourcing solutions.
View all posts by Rajeev Rajagopal →